Kate Bosworth is one of the most striking screen presences to emerge from the early 2000s, a performer whose combination of classical beauty and a cool, self-possessed watchability made her one of the most photographed actresses of her generation even as Hollywood consistently underestimated what she could do with a demanding role. She broke through with Blue Crush (2002) and went on to a career that includes Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (2004), Superman Returns (2006), 21 (2008), and Still Alice (2014). Her work in Still Alice, in a supporting role that required her to hold her own alongside Julianne Moore at full force, remains the clearest signal of how much more range she carries than the films built around her looks have typically asked her to use.

On screen, Bosworth photographs with a cool, fine-boned elegance that the camera responds to immediately and that directors of a certain era treated as the whole story. The heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one hazel, give her a face that stops a frame in a way that is specific to her alone. She has grown into a more assured and interesting performer with age, and the gap between her talent and the roles the mainstream has offered her remains one of the more persistent missed opportunities in recent Hollywood.